


The Symbiote Syndicate

by SioDymph



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-08-21 22:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16585820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SioDymph/pseuds/SioDymph
Summary: In an alternate universe perfect matches between Symbiotes and their Hosts aren’t as rare as people think. And in the midst of Life Foundation’s corruption and malpractice an unlikely team is formed…





	1. Waiting for the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! I know a lot of folks are writing for this AU and decided to take my own crack at it! Hope you enjoy!

For days Dr. Dora Skirth had been waiting to die.

She knew it would happen eventually. She’d stood by idly and watched as it happened to over fifty people before her. For some it had been short. Violent. Honestly horrifying. Those people she pitied the most. Others didn’t have it much easier though, for them it had been a slow ordeal. A few times she and her colleges had even been fooled into thinking they had finally formed a successful bond, only to see the subject suffering acute organ failure the next morning. But after enough false positives the scientists at life foundation picked up on the pattern and stopped getting their hopes up as much.

This entire experiment had stopped Dora from getting her hopes up over anything really.

And now here she was on the opposite side of the glass. Now a part of that same pattern she’d dedicated so much time to studying.

Each day she felt more and more drained. It became harder to wake up in the mornings, and even while awake she felt so weak and tired. It was only a matter of time before she became too weak to even wake up again.

If nothing else at least it promised to be a somewhat peaceful end. She’d seen what had happen to some of the other test subjects… She’d even been the one to perform the autopsies earlier on. Organs completely eroded away, other looked as if they’d been chewed on, literally eaten from the inside out.

One thing she did find odd though was that she couldn’t actually feel the symbiote eating her, or at least if it was already she couldn’t tell. For her this ordeal had yet to become painful.

At the moment the most pain she felt was concentrated towards her guts, but that was more her own personal hunger than anything. Due to the constant scans and tests the subjects had always been fed lightly and sparingly as to get the most accurate readings. At the time she thought that was reasonable, but now that she was living it she realized that they had been even crueler to all those patients than she ever realized because she was starving.

Constantly.

It became like a background noise in her everyday life. And there were even points where it became the only thing she could think of. Cravings for sweets and comfort foods drenched in fats. And even though she’d never been the biggest fan she kept day dreaming about digging into some steak… All rare and juicy... She just assumed that came from her protein and iron levels growing more dismal as each day went by. She honestly wondered if her own hunger would be what killed her and not the alien parasite eating her alive.

The worst part was however, she wasn’t even mad at the symbiote living in her. Not really. While watching test subject after test subject lose their life at the hands of these creatures she knew that they simply wanted to survive, just the same as any other living organism. It wasn’t their fault the humans they had been paired with weren’t perfectly compatible with their own bodies. And sitting here in her own glass observation cell she wondered if these creatures had been forced into bonds just as much as the innocent people who’d been deceived into participating in this suicide mission.

Perhaps Drake and his team and she had been going about this experiment ineffectively…

But while she was worried she couldn’t bring herself to care too much for the future of life foundation, she probably only had days left and then she’d be gone.

What she was truly worried about was how many more people Drake would murder. How many more people would be tricked by pleasant faces and contracts that would even leave a professional lawyer lost. How many more would be thrown into these cells just like herself, eaten alive, and then ripped apart for now pointless autopsies that always gave the same results. How many more people would suffer and die for this mockery of science.

The only thing she worried about more than that was Simon and Logan…

Her sons… Simon had just turned five, Logan was three. They both adored fairytales and space aliens and superheroes, they were the most precious thing in her world and they were living with their father up in Seattle.

She and Grant had separated on decent terms, and apparently now had a new girlfriend, Elise, and a stable household. Especially compared to Skirth’s own home life currently, nonexistent as it was. But they both had agreed to joint custody of their children. Even with how demanding her job was she still wanted to be in her children’s lives.

But that was also before Carlton Drake decided to go completely insane and threatened her sons and family.

Skirth wanted to hope that Simon and Logan would be ok with their father. That he would be able to protect them. But being trapped in a glass cell, slowly being ripped apart by an alien straight out of a lovecraftian horror, fully realizing how much power Drake had, she began to doubt there was anywhere on the planet her sons could be safe from Life Foundation. And she absolutely loathed how powerless that and everything else made her feel.

She’d wanted to help. To blow the whistle on Drake’s corrupt practice, just like Eddie Brock had not too long ago. But she underestimated the reach Life Foundation had over media on an international scale. She underestimated their security here in the labs. She underestimated Drake’s influence. She underestimated Drake entirely. She’d been so short-sided and rash. And she was paying the price. With her own life.

And now all she could do was pray that nobody else she knew and loved would have to pay for her own mistakes.

She was pulled from her self-loathing when she saw a three of her former colleagues approaching her cell doing their daily rounds. They use to visit all three living test subjects to take note of their health and to just talk. But with one symbiote dead and another missing, she and the blue symbiote were the only patients left.

They all acted so clinically and impersonal towards her, and that stung too. The way they treated her like a stranger. Like she hadn’t been talking with them all as friends. That’s what really hurt. It was also humiliating as hell. The sheer distrust and fear on their faces truly made her feel like some felon being put on display. It was like her she was put in a pillory for everyone to see; a grim reminder to the other scientists and staff not to step out of line otherwise they’d end up just like her.

“How are you feeling today Dora?”

Dora. Not Dr. Skirth. Not even Ms. Skirth. Nobody in the labs ever called her by her first name. And now, it was all they called her. Never by the honorific she’d worked so hard for. She didn’t know if that was their personal choice or an order made by Drake but it acted as another way everyone tried to forget she’d once been on their side of the glass.

“Dora?” One of her old colleagues, Dr. Gail tried again. They use to discuss cancer research and genetic anomalies during their coffee breaks. Now, he purposely avoided ever looking her in the eye. “It’s important that you’re as honest as possible with us. If you feel any discomfort or pain you have to tell us immediately. We don’t want to see-… We really need to make sure you’re in healthy condition.”

At the moment she was starving to the point of physical pain in her stomach, she was barely active due to her enclosed space and fatigue from hunger. Her diet was absolutely atrocious and she even when she did eat it lacked the nutrients she needed and was unsatisfying. Not to mention the lack of motivation due to her depression and anxiety at literally being gawked at from inside a cage as she slowly died...

“I’m fine. I am hungry though.”

Dr. Kingsly made a few notes on their tablet and nodded. “We can try talking to the others, see if we can change up your meal plan.”

They said that every time she complained about being hungry and they had yet to change her meal plan. At this point she thought they just said it to try and keep her from worrying. They couldn’t change her diet. They probably didn’t even how the power to do so anymore. Luckily for them she was past the point of caring about things like that.

Dr. Gail continued. “I think you’ll be happy to know you’re results so far have actually been rather stable. No significant changes to you liver, kidneys, lungs or heart. Brain activity where it should be. No major red flags.”

“You seem really tired.” Dr. Pelekai added with a frown. “Have you been getting enough sleep?”

Earlier on she’d tried to be mad. She’d snap at her former colleagues, try to argue. Demand that they tell her what was going on outside her cell. Now she just shrugged her shoulders. “No. This isn’t exactly a stress-free environment, you know.”

When they were all colleagues they might have all agreed with that. Maybe even joked about hanging out of the weekends to “let loose”, as if they actually got the weekends off. But now nobody responded to her. Instead they all grimaced and glanced at one another in some secret message.

“Uh, ok then.” Dr. Pelekai continued, clearly uncomfortable. “At least try to relax Dora. If you feel any changes notify us immediately. You know that of course. And... Well-”

With that the three of them awkwardly shuffled away back down the hall and she was alone again.

Having literally nothing else to do she decided to try and follow their advice. She’d been able to sleep a few times, but never anything longer than an hour or two before her body would force her awake again. Sometimes the pain of being so hungry would wake her back up, but more often than not it was just the stress. She never did handle stress well. When she was working on her doctorate she’d had her fair share a sleepless nights where she couldn’t bring herself to study, yet couldn’t fall asleep or do anything else. But she’d learned some strategies along the way to at least try and get into a calmer headspace to rest.

Pressing her tongue up to the roof of her mouth she counted backwards from twenty. Eyes closed. Forcing herself to take slow deep breaths.

She tried to think of more pleasant memories. She tried to think about her sons.

How Simon wanted his fifth birthday party Avengers themed. How his and Logan’s eyes lit up when he walked into Grant’s apartment after it was all decorated. The way Simon giggled when she tickled his side before he squirmed away to go play with his friends. How he and all his friends played heroes; grabbing different toys and running around Grant’s apartment yelling “Avengers Assemble!” as loudly as they could. How Logan had been clinging to her leg the entire party until he saw his big brother pretending to be Thor. Then he’d finally left her side to chase after the big kids, waving his arms around pretending to be Falcon. When they finally tired themselves out they all sat and watched Moana, Logan curled up on one side and Simon almost falling asleep on the other. And how they all seemed to burst back to life when Elise called out from the kitchen that it was time for cake.

Simon had scrunched up his face so adorably; concentrating when it came time for him to make a wish. It took him six tries to blow out his candles completely but he’d been so proud because he did it all by himself. And later while eating cake Simon had told her he wished for his own super powers and that he could join the Avengers and help them all be friends again someday. She’d been so surprised because she hadn’t even realized her son knew about the Avenger’s Civil war. But apparently Grant had to tell him and Logan after they saw a story about Captain America being a terrorist on the news and got confused. Captain America and Falcon had always been one of Logan’s favorites. And Simon was probably Thor and the Hulk’s biggest fans. They admired their heroes for being brave in the face of danger and keeping everyone safe. Everything Skirth wasn’t able to be for them.

With a few tears blinking in her eyes, she hoped beyond hope that the Life Foundation left her family alone after she died. And that maybe someday Simon, Logan and Grant could forgive her for not being in their lives. For just disappearing like this…

And somehow, by some miracle, Skirth finally felt herself drifting off. Thinking about how Simon had struggled to unwrap his present but insisting he could do it himself. And how after finally pulling out the Thor action figure she got him he’d raced around the room and gave her a big hug. And how Logan had joined them in a little group hug just because he loved giving hugs.

Then everything finally went blissfully dark.


	2. Dreaming and Scheming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, sorry it's been a while! But here's the next chapter for this story! 
> 
> On another note I've been thinking of possibly renaming this, idk what to. So if anyone has an idea for a better title feel free to let me know!
> 
> Anyways hope you enjoy! (and sorry for any grammar and spelling I missed lol)

While being held against her will most of Skirth’s dream were forgettable. She knew she was having dreams, you roughly have seven or so each night, but for some reason she just wasn’t recalling having any dreams. A few times she’d woken up suddenly, disoriented until she remembered where she was, but she never was able to recall what made her wake up. Maybe a few that included Simon or Logan or the symbiotes had stuck in her mind, but for the most part it was nothing. Her dreams were nothing.

So when she felt herself slip away and found herself completely in a dream-like state she felt unhinged.

For some reason she dreamed she was still in the life foundation labs, back at her old station in fact.

At least she thought it was a dream. She knew she was asleep. But this all felt just a little too real. The icy ac raising the hairs on her neck, the soft hum coming from her computer as it processed another round of pointless data, even the way a handful of stray hairs felt as they brushed up against her forehead. But when she tried to read her monitor everything looked blurred, she swore she recognized a few words but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what it all meant.

“What is this?” She muttered to herself, trying to type of her keyboard only for it to come out as gibberish.

**_“DR. SKRITH?”_ **

All at once Skirth felt like a wave had crashed over her head at that strange voice. Everything that felt so real before suddenly faded. Numbed. Artificial. The strange part was she didn’t even feel scared. Not really. She mostly felt confused.

Not knowing what else to do she looked away from her fake computer to the door where she swore the voice had originated from. And answered them.

“Yes?”

After a few moments, she heard the voice again. Still just as loud and strong but further away.

**_“DR. SKIRTH? WE NEED TO TALK.”_ **

If she were more conscious she’d probably be more scared. Hearing some strange disembodied voice of a person she didn’t know. They didn’t even sound human the more she thought about it. And yet all she could do was simply shrug her shoulders and leave the small safety of her office. “Alright…”

In the hallways all the lights were on their lower settings, usually only used at night so the security guards weren’t left in complete darkness. And even though she had no idea where she was going she kept walking. Being pulled by some invisible force.

It took her a moment to realize she was going to the testing cells where they kept the bonded subjects. As she passed the first two cells they were completely empty. Not even the yellow symbiote’s dead corpse was dried onto the cell floor like it had been in real life. However when she got to her own cell she was able to see a figure there. A creature. Waiting for her.

They weren’t human. But it wasn’t the symbiote either. At least it didn’t look like it. It had the same dark-blue color but they had a humanoid structure, for the most part at least. They towered over Skirth. And instead of human eyes peering down at her there were wide white sheets without any socket or visible eye. Instead of a human mouth there was a grinning maw full of razor sharp teeth that couldn’t fully close.

 ** _“HELLO DOCTOR.”_** They greeted, in a voice that seemed to come from their mouth. And though it took Skrith a moment to process it she realized it also felt like the voIce was coming from her own head.

“Hi?” She tried. She kept waiting for that scared feeling to creep into her guts and make her panic. But it never came. She just kept looking up at this strange creature. “I’m here now. What do you want to talk about exactly?”

 ** _“IT SEEMS WE HAVE A PROBLEM.”_** The creature began. _**“YOU’RE AN IDEAL HOST, DON’T GET ME WRONG. UNFORTUNATELY THOUGH THE LONGER YOUR TRAPPED IN THIS HELL HOLE THE CLOSER YOU ARE TO DYING.”**_

“I didn’t need a dream vision to figure that out.” Skirth said with a huff. “They’re starving me. And if you’re who I think you are, you aren’t helping… What are you exactly?”

 ** _“A KLYNTAR, IF YOU MUST KNOW.”_** They replied. _**“AND I’VE BEEN STUDYING YOU EVEN LONGER THAN YOU AND YOUR LITTLE TEAM HAVE BEEN STUDYING ME. BUT NOW WE’RE STUCK IN A PREDICAMENT.”**_

Skirth had no idea what a Klyntar was, but they let them continue. “So what’s the problem? Beside me dying.”

_**“YOU SEE WE LET YOU BRING US TO YOUR PLANET, IN THE HOPES OF FINDING SUBSTANTIAL HOSTS. HOWEVER WE HADN’T ANTICIPATED YOUR KIND TO BE SO… OBSESSIVE WITH THESE TESTS. AND SO WE HAVE ALL PLANNED OUR ESCAPES TO CONTINUE OUR CONQUEST TO THE REST OF YOUR WORLD.”** _

Skirth listened and nodded with what the symbiote was saying in the beginning. However when they mentioned conquest it sent a chill down her spine. And for the first time in her dream, she had an inkling of fear. A part of her always knew that this was what Life Foundation was risking when they brought these aliens back to the planet. But when they appeared so small, so defenseless, she thought maybe they’d gotten lucky and the first alien life they made contact with would be a docile species.

But once again it seemed she was wrong.

“You’re here to take over earth?”

**_“IDEALLY WE’RE HERE TO SCOUT OUT THE LAND, FIND SOME SHIP, THEN BRING THE REST OF OUR KIND HERE TO TAKE OVER THE PLANET. BUT YES THAT IS MY JOB. I WAS BROUGHT HERE TO STUDY HUMANITY AND ALL OF YOUR PLANET’S OTHER LIFE FORMS… SO THAT THE REST OF MY KIND WILL FIND APPROPRIATE HOSTS. AND TAKE YOUR ENTIRE PLANET AS OUR OWN.”_ **

“You… you can’t!” That fear in Skirth kept bubbling. They sounded so clinical. None of this mattered to the symbiote.

**_“I CAN. I ALREADY TOLD YOU IT’S MY JOB.”_ **

“Then- Then I’ll just stay in here and die!” Skirth stuttered before finding some solid ground. “You need me to survive! You won’t make it a foot out of this lab without me!”

**_“YOU ARE CORRECT IN THAT RIGHT. YOU ARE A WELL-PAIRED HOST.”_ **

“I’ll just stay in here and starve! And you’ll die just like the yellow one!”

 ** _“THAT IS WERE YOU’RE INCORRECT.”_** The symbiote said, for a moment loosing that clinical tone. Almost sounding gleeful. **_“MY ASSOCIATE, BLIGHT, IS NOT DEAD. LIKE YOU AND YOUR TEAM ASSUMED.”_**

“I saw them, they’ve been exposed to earth’s atmosphere for days now! There’s no way they could still be alive.”

 ** _“EVERYONE APART OF MY TEAM WAS BROUGHT HERE FOR A REASON.”_** The symbiote continued, almost teasing. **_“I WAS BROUGHT TO STUDY, RIOT WAS OUR LEADER, VENOM OUR MUSCLE, AND BLIGHT WAS OUR LITTLE SURVIVOR…”_**

“What?” They really came here with a plan already set in motion. And Life Foundation had been the ones to take the bait.

The symbiote kept talking. And there was almost a fondness to their voice. _**“I’VE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THEIR WORK. THEY REALLY ARE REMARKABLE. THEY’VE SPENT THEIR WHOLE LIFE TRAINING TO LIVE TEMPORARILY HOSTLESS IN TOXIC ENVIRONMENTS. YOU MIGHT THINK OF THEM LIKE SOME DEEP SEA DIVER. WHO CAN ALSO RESIST CHEMICAL BURNS AND RADIATION POISONING.”**_

Skirth turned to look away in anger and annoyance. And now she could see figures appear in the other cells. It was what appeared to be the symbiote Blight, dead in one cell. And one of the black symbiote’s final subjects before Eddie broke them out.

The test subject, Maria, was on the floor convulsing until she stilled and stopped breathing entirely. Rapidly turning grey in this weird dream-state. But then something strange happened. Above the cell Skirth saw something seep out of an airduct and drop onto Maria’s face. It was that same shade of sickly yellow as…

While the tiny drop inched into Maria’s mouth and disappeared into it, Skirth went over to the other cell. The door was open and she stepped inside, not even fearing contamination. She reached out to touch the dead symbiote but it crumbled in her hands. Just a dried-out shell. Skirth brought her hands to her face and sighed heavily. This was bad. This was so much worse than just Drake kidnapping people. “I can’t believe I… I was such a fool.”

**_“YOU DIDN’T NOTICE... NOBODY DID.”_ **

“So Blight escaped by living off the corpse of that poor woman?”

**_“NOT A CORPSE. THAT HUMAN WAS A GOOD HOST FOR BLIGHT, TOO GOOD TO LET WASTE. SHE WAS IN A DORMANT STATE. PLAYING DEAD IF YOU WILL.”_ **

“So Blight’s still alive, in a woman who the Foundation thinks is dead and won’t go looking for either of them…” Skirth said. And as much as she hated it she had to admit, these aliens had been thorough. They probably pegged the Life Foundation as hired help as soon as they saw their space craft. “And you’re certain both of them really are still alive?

**_“IF ANYONE CAN SURVIVE A PLACE LIKE THIS IT WILL BE BLIGHT. AND NOW THAT THEY AND VENOM ARE OUT WE CAN CONTINUE THEIR MISSION.”_ **

Venom… Skirth hadn’t been able to track Eddie down after their break in. And she’d only heard from a few passing guards that Drake had organized a man-hunt looking for the guy… She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now that it dawned on her how much the symbiotes had already set in motion…

**_“YOU ARE CORRECT, EDDIE IS NOW VENOM’S HOST.”_ **

Skirth snapped over to the blue symbiote with wide eyes. “I didn’t even say anything!”

**_“NO, BUT YOU THOUGHT. YOU’RE MY HOST DOCTOR. AND IT’S TRUE I NEED YOU TO SURVIVE ON THIS MISERABLE PLANET, BUT…”_ **

The symbiote’s face began to ripple and peel away. Teeth unwinding from around the bottom of their face and hanging open. And Skirth found she was staring back at herself. Embedded in the center of the symbiote. When she opened her mouth the alien’s voice was there.

**_“I’M APART OF YOU IN EVERY WAY. I KNOW YOU NOW. I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU. YOUR CURIOSITY… YOUR FEAR…”_ **

“This can’t be happening…” Skirth said backing away.

**_“BUT YOU HAVE NO REASON TO BE AFRAID. YOU’RE A GOOD HOST, IF I LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU IT WOULD ENDANGER MYSELF AS WELL. IF YOU LISTEN AND OBEY I PROMISE YOU WILL SURVIVE.”_ **

“If you claim to know me as well as you do, then you’d know I don’t care about that. I’ve been living on borrowed time for weeks now. And if I have to die to protect the planet from the likes of you, I will.” Skirth said. If only for a moment, she felt a little bravery in herself. If nothing else, she still had this one way out. It’d honestly been one of the only things she could think about for days now. If it finally happened she wouldn’t fight it, at least that’s what she told herself.

**_“NO, YOU ARE CORRECT. YOU HAVE LITTLE CARE FOR YOUR OWN MORTALITY THESE DAYS… BUT WHAT ABOUT SIMON AND LOGAN?”_ **

Skirth’s blood turned to ice. “You wouldn’t dare-”

**_“WORK WITH ME, AND I PROMISE AFTER THE INVASION IS SET IN MOTION NO HARM WILL COME TO EITHER OF YOUR OFFSPRING.”_ **

She was pinned in a corner and she knew it then. Even if she found a way to kill this blue symbiote there was no guarantee that this alien invasion wouldn’t still happen. That these aliens wouldn’t go after her babies. Taking over their bodies and minds… Just thinking of it put a lump in her throat.

**_“I KNOW YOU FEAR DRAKE AS WELL. AS A WILLING HOST I PROMISE YOU I’LL PROTECT THEM FROM YOUR FORMER BOSS AND HIS ASSOCIATES AS WELL.”_ **

Now she really had no way out. She loathed how powerless she felt, she was literally selling the rest of humanity out for her own children. She was being more selfish than she ever had been in her entire life. And yet she had no other way out.

She found the glass of the cell had completely vanished. There was nothing separating Skirth from the creature. And the fake head that had been inside of the symbiote was gone now. An empty hole waiting to be truly filled. Skirth raised her hand out to shake the alien’s.

“Deal.”

The creature’s face reformed, white eyes gleaming with mirth and teeth returning to a massive grin. One of their hands reached down to clasp Skrith’s outstretched one. Completely dwarfing her. Engulfing half of her arm.

**_“DEAL.”_ **

Skirth went to let go but the symbiote didn’t budge. If anything the blue goo continued to creep up her arm to her shoulder. Pulling her closer. Closer to that maw of razor sharp teeth.

And yet Skirth found she wasn’t scared like she thought she’d be. She was annoyed, and she hated how small and helpless she felt, and she hated herself for betraying humanity, and yet she wasn’t afraid. At least not of this creature she’d spent so long studying.

Instead a single question came to her mind as she was pulled closer still.

“You’ve told me everyone else’s names accept your own…”

 ** _“ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF THEN, DOCTOR,”_**   They replied, with one final tug, they pulled Skirth closer and her entire vision was taken up by dark blue. Numbly she realized she was inside the symbiote, moving to its center. But before she could get there she felt herself blacking out. Slipping away she heard one last thing before she was gone completely.

**_“I AM MALICE. AND YOU ARE MINE.”_ **

 


End file.
